Author Notes
Chickpea curry is used as a dip and side with rice crepes (appam) and dosa in central Kerala. This recipe is from my mom. Written down by my wife. I updated it to fit the format of this web site.
I optionally add veggies that do not have strong flavor and do not need long cooking time to this dish towards the end of the preparation.
Pardon my vocabulary. —James
Ingredients
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1 cup
Brown chickpea
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1/8
Coconut
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1
Sweet red onion
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1
Roma tomato
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1 piece
Ginger (about an inch long)
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4
Garlic cloves
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1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder
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1/2 teaspoon
Chili powder
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1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala powder
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1/2 teaspoon
Salt
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1 tablespoon
Clear coconut oil
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1/4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds
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1 sprig
curry leaves (optional)
Directions
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Soak chickpea in 8 cups of water overnight.
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Remove water from chickpea. Transfer the chickpea to a pan or pot and add salt and water to cover the chickpea.
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Bring the water to boil on high heat and then reduce the heat to medium and let it cook for 20 minutes.
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While chickpea is cooking, prepare the ingredients:
Cut onions in to thin long slices.
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Cut coconut in to 1/10" thick and 1" long slices. These are available in some Indian grocery stores in small packs. They will be in the freezers. If you have them, use a handful of those slices.
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Cut peeled ginger and garlic in to tiny granules. Cut the tomato in to 1/2" pieces.
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Wait for the chickpea to finish cooking.
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In a separate pan or pot large enough to hold chickpea, add coconut oil and heat on medium flame. I use olive oil as a replacement but the taste is quite different.
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Once oil is boiling, add mustard seeds. Wait for the seeds to finish popping.
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Add coconut and wait for it change the color to light brown.
Watch for the heat. If the oil is drying up too fast, you may to reduce the flame a little.
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Add curry leaves if available and let the water dry out of them. Curry leaves adds a subtle flavor.
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Add onion pieces, ginger and garlic and continue frying until everything is light brown and there is no more water.
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Add tomato pieces and continue frying until the water from tomato is not popping any more and tomato pieces are mixed well into the ingredients.
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Add turmeric powder and chili powder and fry for about a minute.
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Add the cooked chickpea along with the water
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Add garam masala powder. Cook for 20 minutes on low flame. Longer if you like the chickpea to be soft.
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Optional: Add a cup of canned green bean midway through the previous step. Remove the water from canned bean before adding.
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